The present invention relates to computer input devices in which a transducer converts translational motion of a housing into a position signal for controlling movement of a cursor associated with a visual display system. More particularly, the present invention relates to an input device capable of generating further additional control signals and an associated method for improving and speeding up its operation.
A mouse, as it has come to be known in the lexicography of the prior art, is a widespread computer input device, which has become greatly accepted among personal computer and computer terminal users.
Computer peripheral input devices of this type are described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 3,541,541 issued to Engelbart for a mechanical mouse Nov. 17, 1970 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,602 issued to Hall, Sep. 12, 1989. A mechanical mouse consists essentially of a housing which can be slid by a single hand over a flat surface to generate a pair of signals in response to the relative motion of the housing over the flat surface.
These signals are produced by a transducer typically located on the bottom or belly of the housing and are transmitted to computer means via communication means (e.g., a flexible cable connected to a computer's input port). The pair of signals represent orthogonal incremental motion components of the mouse in the x and y directions over the flat surface, in a suitable scale.
Generally the mouse movement is visually fed back to the user by a graphic symbol or cursor displayed on the computer screen that copies the mouse's movement creating the illusion in the mind of user of directly moving it with his or her own hand. The application program derives user commands according to spatial relationships between the displayed information and the cursor position on the screen when a switch is activated (usually in the form of a push-button or similar means) provided on the back of the mouse for generating binary (i.e., on-off) control information.
A three-dimensional mouse, which produces three different signals representing orthogonal incremental position components in the x, y and z directions for use e.g., in positioning an object in a three-dimensional isometric display on a computer display means, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,132,672 issued to Clark, Jul. 21, 1992 and also in U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,302 issued to McLean Mar. 10, 1992. These devices operate producing signals for positions in the x and y directions in the same manner as in the conventional two-dimensional mouse and by producing the signal for the z direction by a transducer connected with a digit operable moveable component such as a roller-belt or pressure sensitive button. Thus signals for the x and y direction are produced by motion of the mouse over a plane surface, but signals for the z direction are produced by motion of the moveable component by a finger or thumb of the hand moving the mouse.
The mouse's capability to generate position signals plus one or more binary control signals with just one hand of the user, has turned it into a most useful tool for interactive computer program control.
Its flexibility when used in combination with graphic programs, either graphic applications themselves or using the computer's graphics capacity as an interactive user-machine interface, made this instrument a very popular input device, mostly for personal computer applications.
Moreover, we have observed that in most computer applications the data space the user is working on is too large to be displayed at the same time in the display means of the computer. This is particularly true when working in a window environment in which the screen is divided into several separate areas, each of which display a different data space. In normal operation of a mouse this situation arises repeatedly forcing the user to abandon his or her main task and drive the cursor to screen areas assigned for scrolling commands, using up a significant amount of his or her useful time. Hence, since the display means generally shows just a portion of its associated data space, usefulness of the mouse is limited when the data field to be accessed is not included in the displayed portion.
Accordingly there is a need for an input device that can carry out this operation in a fast and efficient manner while maintaining the original mouse concept of driving a cursor.
A squeezable mouse is known and is structured to issue scrolling commands to a computer means displaying an interactively operated program. When the sqeezable mouse is squeezed binary switches are closed sending a binary command to the computer. This is equivalent to providing a mouse with a third button on its back for sending an additional binary control command but using a different mouse handling technique. This solution is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,785 issued to Cooper, Jun. 16, 1992.
All known mice and methods for scrolling information displayed by a computer in a computer display means are based on positioning or moving a cursor within pre-determined areas of the display means and issuing binary control commands (i.e., operating push-buttons or similar binary control means) while the cursor is positioned or moved within the boundaries or across the boundaries of those pre-determined areas. For example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,785 referred to above, several methods for scrolling are disclosed which are based on these principles.
These solutions do not provide concurrent cursor positioning and scrolling control because the apparatus on which they rely do not have separate control means for that purpose, requiring the allocation of the x-y cursor control means of the mouse to perform scrolling operations.
Furthermore, since methods used with those devices are based on driving the cursor to pre-determined areas of the display means, they do not allow the issuing of scrolling commands from an arbitrary cursor position. This tends to increase the average x-y cursor translation distance since the scrolling commands represent a significant part of the set of commands issued by a user in an interactive operation of a computer. This results in mouse productivity loss and also forces the user to abandon his or her main task to drive the cursor to the pre-determined screen areas diverting his or her attention.
Moreover, scrolling operations generally need to be performed in a gradual way, scanning the data space in incremental steps through successive approximations so as to keep track of the displayed information until the desired data field is reached. This requires an appropriate apparatus and an operating method capable of providing a tight scrolling control to allow fast scrolling direction switching and a wide range of available scrolling velocities.
Also, with the increasing popularity of application programs and user interfaces based on three-dimensional data array concepts (e.g., three dimensional spreadsheet programs) there is a need of a mouse capable of providing an improved way to operate these programs, allowing a user to scroll not only within a plane display but through successive three-dimensional data layers.
These requirements are not satisfied in a complete manner by any of the conventional mouse devices known in the industry. This is because the conventional mice are conceived to drive a cursor on a finite workspace bounded by the screen limits and are equipped with devices for generating only either movement information or binary control information.
Thus there is a need for an ergonomic mouse device and method for using it to enhance productivity, speed and efficiency of interactive operation of a computer by a user.